Chapter-2
I had always idolized Joe, and wished to be a blacksmith and work at the forge. During the daytime, I worked with Joe. In the evening I went to school run by an old lady. All the time I studied, she used to sleep and her niece Biddy used to teach me. She was an orphan like me.
One evening, I was sitting beside Joe and was reading something. My sister along with Uncle Pumblechook had gone out for some work. When she returned after sometime, I saw her shouting in excitement. She kept saying, “Pip is very grateful tonight. His life has changed.”
On the contrary, I kept asking myself, ‘Why?’ ‘What happened?’
Instead of answering, she was busy talking to Uncle about Miss Havisham who was a wealthy spinster. She wanted to take Pip as a companion.
Finally, I got the answer, “Miss Havisham wants Pip to go and play in her house,” said my sister.
“But how does Miss Havisham know Pip?” Joe asked.
My sister getting impatient and restless said, “She asked Uncle Pumblechook if he knew a boy who could like to come and play in her house. Without thinking he referred Pip’s name to her. You know how kind Uncle is.”
Before I could say something, my sister scooped me up in her arms. My face was all covered with white cream and all-nourishing stuff. Soon, my head was under the shower. I was being treated like a groom and was dressed like a true gentleman with my best suit and boots. All done and I were handed over to Uncle Pumblechook as if he was the richest person who had come asking for me.
Bidding adieu to Joe I left.
I was nervous. Some unusual feeling was creeping in. I was parting from Joe and my sister for the first time ever. All through the journey to Miss Havisham’s place the clouds of question were coming and asking, ‘Why and what am I supposed to be doing at her place?’
We were about half the way when Uncle Pumblechook started playing a number game with me. He kept on asking questions. Before I could reply to previous questions, he had a couple of puzzles ready for me. Now, he was the only one who was speaking and I was thinking, not about the puzzles but about Miss Havisham’s place. This was making my journey more terrible. The questions kept on coming, one followed by another. Each was of higher degree. It was annoying for me when I noticed that Uncle was having food along with his rally of questions and didn’t ask me for any sort of foodstuff. We reached Miss Havisham’s house next morning. It was huge but it was a dull place with a depressing feel of a prison.
Uncle Pumblechook rang the doorbell. A sweet but haughty voice came, “Whose that?”
“Pumblechook,” replied back Uncle Pumblechook.
A young lady opened the door.
“This is Pip,” said Uncle Pumblechook.
The lady, then greeted and welcomed me in but immediately stopped Uncle Pumblechook from entering the house and asked whether he had some work.
“Miss Havisham wants to meet me too,” replied Uncle Pumblechook in an uncertain voice.
The lady replied, “She doesn’t want to meet anybody else.”
So, Uncle Pumblechook left me and started walking back.
The young lady led me in the house and was addressing me as a boy. Although she was young almost of my age, yet she appeared old. She was very beautiful. She seemed to be very haughty and was as contemptful of me as if she were a princess.
Inside the house, it was very dark and dull. There were hardly any traces of daylight falling inside the house. The young lady brought a candle and handed over to me and asked me to follow her. We reached a gate where she left me. I knocked and a lady in a broken voice asked me to come in. The lady was lying down on an armchair with her elbow resting on the table and her head leaning on her hand. She was the strangest-looking lady I had ever seen.
This lady was covered with rich materials like satin and silk all over her body. Although her hair was grey yet there were white bridal flowers in her hair. She wore some rich, bright and sparkled jewellery. She was looking like a real queen I had ever met in my life.
She was very, very rich.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Pip,” I replied.
“Come near me. Let me see you. I hope you are not nervous having come to such a dark place and in front of such a strange lady,” said she.
Walking towards her I said, “No,” but falsely.
She was sad, depressed and upset. I came to know this soon from the way she spoke.
After a little conversation, she asked me to go and play.
I stood firm and didn’t move an inch.
“Are you stubborn? Are you dejected?” she said angrily.
I replied politely, “No Ma’am, but I cannot play right away. I am new to this place and I haven’t adjusted myself to the strangeness. Ma’am, please don’t complain about me to my sister or else I will be in trouble.”
Suddenly, I stopped fearing and I realized that I had said something beyond my limits.
After listening to me, she called Estella and asked her to play cards with me.
Surprisingly, maybe shockingly, she said, “I can’t play with him; he is just a local boy.
Then I started to play.
It was then when I realized that time had come to a halt in that hall a long time back. The clock was not ticking. It had stopped at 20 minutes to 10.
After the first round itself, Estella started affronting me, my physical appearance and my thighs.
All this made me conscious and I lost my concentration and made mistake after mistake in the game. She used all negative adjectives I knew and she started to hate me so much that I myself started to dislike myself.
Miss Havisham kept her eyes on us all the time.
Suddenly, she asked me, “What do you think of her?”
“I think she is beautiful,” I whispered.
“What else,” she asked again.
“I think she is naughty.”
Then I asked her if I could go back home or not.
She told me that I wasn’t allowed to leave the place until I finished the game I was playing with Estella.
She ordered Estella to get something for me to eat.
I was waiting for Estella. In the meantime, I was also appraising myself for my appearance.
She came back with a loaf of bread and beer and threw it in front of me as if I were a dog.
I was hurt but I controlled my tears. As soon as she went back, I burst out in tears. But soon, I recovered. I ate all the food and wiped off my tears.
She came back and led me to the way outside the house.
I was told to come back again after five days.
I went straight to the house where I couldn’t find Uncle Pumblechook. So, I started off to walk down four miles to the forge.
All the way, I was thinking what all happened and what all was said to me.
Five days later, I again went to Miss Havisham’s house. Again, Estella opened the door. This time, I could see many more people in the house. Most of them were her relatives.
While guiding my way to Miss Havisham, Estella asked, “Do you think I am beautiful?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Am I kind,” I asked her.
“Kinder than east time,” she replied. She abused me wishing to see me cry. But this time, I made myself strong and held my tears back.
On my way, I met a tall and dark gentleman with a large head. He enquired about me.
“Who are you, O kid?” he asked me.
“I am Pip; Miss Havisham called for me,” I said.
He was a bit uncomfortable with me and I also didn’t like the way he was looking at me. He asked me to behave well.
I reached Miss Havisham’s room. It was all the same as before. She asked me whether I was ready to play.
I refused at once.
Then, she asked, “If you do not play, will you work?”
“Yes,” I replied.
She asked me to go to another room and wait there.
The room was lit by candles and was very untidy as if not swept clean past many years. It had cobwebs all around and rats could be seen strolling here and there.
Then, Miss Havisham came leaning on her stick. Her face looked depressed as usual. She showed me a thing related to her past life which had been stationary for long. Then, we walked around the whole room. Estella brought the relatives to whom Miss Havisham spoke very rudely.
Then, I played a few games with Estella and lost every time.
It was all like before. She offered me food as if I were a dog. Then, at the end of the day, she led me out of the house.
I went to the garden where I met a young guy who was upset with me and wanted to have a fight with me.
I agreed with him and knocked him twice.
Then, I went back to the place where Estella was standing and watching me. She was happy as if she had got something she desperately needed. She was delighted.
Instead of leading me directly towards the gate she took me into a passage and asked me to kiss her.
I did kiss her. In return, I got something depressing as it was just a mere token of money given to a common working boy.
